ARCHAEOLOGY. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



to serve the purpose of caryatides in supporting 

 an entablature. There was probably once a 

 statue of a divinity in this niche, as steps have 



FIG. 5. Scn.prrRED MONOLITH OF SALAWAN-KI'PPAM. 

 NATURE BY M. ALHERT TISSANDIER. 



been cut out to give access to it and aid the 

 faithful in prostrating themselves. This central 

 motive is surrounded by ornaments of a re- 

 markable composition. The sculptures form a 

 sort of aureole, adorned with heads of fabulous 

 lions, with Simhas. which, according to the 

 poetic ideas of the Hindus, belong to the para- 

 dise of Vishnu. By the side of this primitive 

 sanctuary, on the same rock, where its height is 

 least, are" observed rude, indefinite sculptures of 

 elephants bearing on their backs little statues of 

 the gods situated in square niches cut in the 

 granite, and a very roughly executed horse. Ac- 

 cording to Tamil or Malabar inscriptions which 

 were discovered in the portico of a little temple 

 near Idaiyan Pudal. and dedicated to Brahma, 

 these sanctuaries were cut in the reign of one of 

 the principal kings of the Chola dynasty, at the 

 beginning of the twelfth century A. L>. 



Chinese. Tracings were taken by one of the 

 directors of the Musee Guimet, Paris, during a 

 journey through northwestern ( 1 hina, of 

 i/tlinjlii, sculptures similar to those on the Egyp- 

 tian monuments. The sculpt ures are represented 

 a-- being of great interest to st udeiitsof epigraphy 

 and Chinese art, as they are found on public 

 monuments and tombs dating back two cen- 

 t urie> before ( 'hri^t . 



Tasmania!!. A collection of the rude stone 

 impl. -menu <,f the Ta^manians exhibited before 

 the I'.riti<h Archaeological Institute in March, 

 l^'.i'.'. indicate that tin- station of that, people was 

 in the palaeolithic stage, or that of un^rouud im- 

 plements, and consequently below that of the 

 prehistoric tribes in Kuropc of the period of the 

 mammoth. I-'ragments or rough flakes of chert 

 or mudstone. never edged by grinding, but only 

 by chipping off one surface with another stone, 

 and grasped in the hand without any handle, 

 served the simple purpose of notching trees for 

 climbing, cutting up game, and scraping spears 

 and clubs. The Tasmanians appear to have kept 



DRAWN FROM 



up this rudimentary art till the present century, 

 and their state of civilization thus becomes a 

 guide by which to judge of that of the prehis- 

 toric cave and drift men, whose 

 life in England and France de- 

 pended on similar though better 

 implements. The Tasmanians, 

 though perhaps in arts the rudest 

 of savages, were at most only a 

 stage below other savages, and do 

 not disclose any depths of brutali- 

 ty. The usual moral and social 

 rules prevailed among them. Their 

 language was efficient and even co- 

 pious ; they had a well-marked re- 

 ligion, in which the spirits of an- 

 cestors were looked to for help in 

 trouble, and the echo was called 

 the " talking shadow." Such facts 

 make it clear that neither an- 

 tiquity nor savagery reaches to 

 really primitive stages of human 

 life, which belong to a remoter 

 past. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, a 

 federal republic in South America. 

 The President is elected for six 

 years by an electoral college com- 

 posed of twice as many representa- 

 tives from the 14 provinces as their Senators 

 and Deputies combined. Each province elects 

 two Senators, and the capital also two. The 

 Deputies are elected by direct suffrage, in the 

 proportion of 1 to 20,000 of population, for the 

 term of four years, one half retiring every two 

 years. Every member of Congress receives a 

 salary of .$8.400. The President appoints all 

 civil, military, and judicial officers. Dr. Luis 

 Saenz Pefia assumed the office of President on 

 Oct. 16, 1892. The provinces elect their gov- 

 ernors and legislatures, and are independent in 

 all matters not reserved to the National Gov- 

 ernment by the Constitution, which is modeled 

 after that of the United States. The President 

 selects his Cabinet, consisting of five Secretaries 

 of State. It was composed as follows in the be- 

 ginning of 1894 : Interior, M. Quintana ; Foreign 

 Affairs, V. Virasoro ; Finances, Dr. J. A. Terry ; 

 Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction, E. 

 Costa ; Army and Navy, Gen. L. Campos. 



Area and Population. The area of the 

 provinces is 515,700 square miles ; of the Misi- 

 ones territory. 23,932 square miles; of Formosa 

 and Chaco, 125,612 square miles; of the Pampas 

 territory, 191,842 square miles ; of Patagonia 

 and Tierra del Fuego, 268,000 square miles. 

 The population was estimated at the end of 1892 

 to be 4,257,000. including 250,000 in the terri- 

 tories. Buenos Ayres. the capital, on June 30, 

 IS<K;. had 5(57,408 inhabitants. The number of 

 immigrants in 1S!)'3 was 73.294, and of emigrants 

 -i::.sr,:!. of ;:<.),!)7;; who arrived at the port of 

 Buenos Ayres, 27,850 were Italians, 5,650 Span- 

 iards, and the rest French, Russians, Germans, 

 and A ust Hans. 



Finances. The revenue for 1892 was $117- 

 900,000, and the expenditure $124,600,000 in 

 pa | id-. The foreign gold debt is $231,662,670, 

 on which the interest and amortization is $16,- 

 o 12.077. The late Finance Minister, Dr. Romero, 

 made an arrangement with respect to the funded 



